College Students' Perceptions of an Automated Writing Evaluation as a Supplementary Feedback Tool in a Writing Class

Abstract

Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) programs have emerged as the latest trend in EFL writing classes. AWE programs act as a supplementary to teacher feedback and offer automated suggestions and corrections to students' linguistic errors such as grammar, vocabulary, or mechanics. As there is a need for better recognition of different AWE brands utilized for different levels of students, this research sheds light on identifying six university students’ views of an AWE program, namely ProWritingAid (PWA). The six students are categorized as having high or low writing achievement. This descriptive study delineates the students’ perceptions qualitatively. A semi-structured interview was used to collect the data. The findings suggest the students’ positive views of PWA because it could make class time more effective; it had useful feedback on grammar, vocabulary choices, and mechanics; and it built students‘ self-confidence over their compositions. In addition, for different reasons, the students engaged differently with PWA to enhance their drafts, e.g. using PWA only for the first drafts or for the first and final drafts. Finally, despite of the students’ constructive views on PWA, there was a risk that students only engaged superficially with the program by hitting the correction directly.

AI-based automated writing evaluation for online language learning: Perceptions of distance learners

“…Therefore, teacher feedback might help them figure out the flaws in their texts . Also, learners might have a chance to eliminate most of the surface level mistakes thanks to AWE and this advantage might help teachers and learners use class time more effectively (Ariyanto et al, 2021). Teachers are allowed to devote more feedback to higher-level writing skills like content and organization, while AWE addresses lower-level skills, such as grammar.…”

Peer and Automated Writing Evaluation (Awe): Indonesian Efl College Students’ Preference for Essay Evaluation

“…Independent studies on Grammarly, on the other hand, have only recently emerged (Barrot, 2020;Gao & Ma, 2020;Guo et al, 2021;Link et al, 2020;Waer, 2021;Ariyanto et al, 2021;Fahmi & Cahyono, 2021;Ghufron, 2019;Karlina Ambarwati, 2021;Miranty et al, 2022)) and have exerted an increasing influence on the L2 writing field. Barrot (2020), for instance, examined the integration of Grammarly into ESL/EFL writing.…”

“…(Dewi, 2019;Fithriani, 2018;Hentasmaka & Cahyono, 2021;Iswandari & Jiang, 2020). Similarly, the research on the use of Grammarly's feedback in the writing classroom appeared to have a positive effect on students' writing products, as it reduces the amount of time required to obtain feedback and reviews grammar, vocabulary, and sentence mechanics, thereby boosting students' confidence in their writing compositions (Ariyanto et al, 2021;Fahmi & Cahyono, 2021;Ghufron, 2019;Karlina Ambarwati, 2021;Miranty et al, 2022).…”

Effectiveness of Trinka in Enhancing Students’ Writing Quality

“…Majority of them were satisfied with the feedback they received from Trinka and agreed that the whole process of correcting the errors was easy thanks to the clear-cut explanations provided by the system. Most students valued the implementation of online grammar checker in classroom because of the positive impact it gives to the students especially when it comes to writing (Ariyanto et al, 2021). Another aspect that is worth noting is the ability of Trinka in raising their confidence in completing the assignment and their language use beyond the assignment as the tool allows them to help find their weaknesses in English grammar and writing.…”